TMC8 Keynote Speaker: Leslie Weir
Leslie Weir is the Librarian and Archivist of Canada, the first woman to be appointed to the position at Library and Archives Canada. Prior to her appointment, Ms. Weir was University Librarian at the University of Ottawa. She has also held positions at the National Library of Canada and the Statistics Canada Library, and is a past president of the Canadian Association of Research Libraries. Over the course of her career, Ms. Weir has demonstrated vision, dedication and outstanding service by encouraging connections both within and outside the world of librarianship.
Featured Speakers
Keith Curry Lance, Ph.D., is a research consultant at the School of Information at San Jose State University. From 2021 to 2024, he was the principal investigator for The School Librarian Investigation—Decline or Evolution? (SLIDE), with fellow researcher Debra E. Kachel. He is best known in the school library community for more than 15 school library impact studies, most conducted at the state level between 1992 and 2014. He was the founding director of the Library Research Service at the Colorado State Library from 1987 to 2007. A frequent speaker at national and state library conferences throughout the U.S. and elsewhere, he was a featured speaker at the 2002 White House Conference on School Libraries.
Dr. David Loertscher is a professor in the School of Information at San Jose State University; has written extensively about the library learning commons and continues to teach students in the masters program to become rock stars in our profession.
Over the years, Professor Loertscher has taught and held professorial roles at four universities and spent a decade leading the editorial department at Libraries Unlimited. His leadership as the President of the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) during the “Count on Reading” initiative saw an impressive 68 million books read nationwide. For access to his extensive body of work, including numerous books and articles written over the past 50 years, visit davidloertscherlibrary.org.
Dianne Oberg, PhD, is Professor Emerita in teacher-librarianship in the Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta. She was an early adopter of online graduate-level school library education. Her research focuses on teacher-librarianship education and the implementation and evaluation of school library programs. Dianne co-edited, with Barbara Schultz-Jones, the second edition of the IFLA School Library Guidelines (2015). Her current project is a book on the role of principals in supporting school library programs.
Diana Maliszewski, OCT BA BEd MEd is the teacher-librarian at Agnes Macphail Public School in the Toronto District School Board and has worked as a school library professional for over twenty-five years. From 2006 – 2018, she was the editor-in-chief of The Teaching Librarian, the official publication of the Ontario School Library Association. Currently, she is the co-Vice President of the Association for Media Literacy and Canada’s representative with the North American and European chapter of UNESCO’s Media and Information Literacy Alliance. Diana developed and still facilitates the Teacher Librarianship Additional Qualification courses for York University and Queen’s University. Diana has been honoured with several awards, such as the Follett International Teacher-Librarian of the Year in 2008 and the OLA President’s Award for Exceptional Achievement in 2013. She blogs weekly as part of her reflective professional practice at mondaymollymusings.blogspot.com.
Alanna King is a former teacher-librarian and recipient of the Canadian School Libraries’ Angela Thacker Memorial Award. She is an educator, instructional designer and agent of change with over 20 years of teaching, writing and design experience. She identifies as having invisible limitations both cognitively and physically.